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County sells Columbus Avenue building for $44K

To at least two Erie County commissioners, a low-ball bid is better than no bid at all.

The third, however, believes underselling a public property undercuts the board’s philosophy to make money on behalf of local taxpayers.

Erie County commissioners recently voted 2-1 to sell off the Hedges Building for $44,000. The Columbus Avenue property is located by the Erie County Courthouse.

Only one person submitted a bid.

Officials previously tried selling the property earlier this year, but also received one offer, coming from Scott Thom, the same person who ended up winning the property this month.

Commissioners previously set a minimum threshold of $50,000 and said they’d reject any offer coming in under this amount.

But during the latest bidding process, Bill Monaghan and Tom Ferrell scrapped this stipulation and accepted a $44,000 offer for a long-vacant property.

“There is no private parking available with this building, and our realtor told us early on that this is a big drawback, and we would be lucky to get anyone to bid the $50,000” Monaghan said.

Erie County commissioner Pat Shenigo, who never agreed to removing a minimum price of $50,000, felt the board squabbled an opportunity to cash in at a higher rate, helping the government’s cash-strapped budget.

“Sometimes in the real estate business, patience is a virtue,” Shenigo said. “We didn’t need to fire-sale this property”

The empty structure most recently stored records for various county officials.

The nondescript, single-story brick building came under scrutiny in 2010 after the Register revealed tens of thousands of disorganized documents littered this property back then.

About 20 years ago, county prosecutor office employees worked out of this building. Erie County’s now-defunct drug task force later occupied this space.

Comments

SamAdams

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 10:02am

They "squabbled an opportunity?" Perhaps the Commissioners did, indeed, squabble over the asking price, but the opportunity was SQUANDERED. Jeez...

Wald

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 12:04pm

Come on, Sam. This is an award-winning journalist for an award-winning newspaper. If he said "squabbled", he meant "squabbled". Don't squabble with him.

SamAdams

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 1:10pm

Uhm, don't you mean "don't quibble with him?"

(I'm hiding under the desk now in anticipation of the flying objects... :-)

Ralph J.

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 10:17am

“Sometimes in the real estate business, patience is a virtue,” Shenigo said. “We didn’t need to fire-sale this property” I have to agree somewhat. Remember when those Sandusky school buildings sold for about $5? Why doesn't the county rent out the building to a business or tenant and make some money? The county might need that property in future years.

worddrow811

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 10:30am

buildings without parking are useless and should be sold to private parties. selling land to make parking spaces available is also a wise idea, in my opinion. Downtown areas were designed for walkers, originally.

Whiskey in a Teacup

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 10:31am

Ralph the schools were auctioned and the highest bidder took ownership.

Ralph J.

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 11:07am

Why didn't the schools use national exposure like other schools? Other schools got over 6 figures in money because there were more potential buyers.

Whiskey in a Teacup

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 10:38am

Btw who owns the parking lot behind this building?

Julie R.

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 3:42pm

Underselling property by $6,000.00 undercuts the board's philosophy of making money for the taxpayers? What a joke.

Sure didn't see the county clowns squabble when the dirty Erie County courts (and their Lorain County attorney friends) pulled off that illegal scam sheriff sale of selling my deceased mother & stepfather's house in Huron that they owned scot-free & clear for close to 40 years at a huge substantial discount to a realtor to use as rental property .... all because the jokes knew unless the criminal transfer of my mother's half prior to her death wasn't acknowledged and the property put back into her estate then it couldn't be sold through normal channels.

Sure didn't see the county clowns squabble, either, when the joke courts (who knew a 4th beneficiary had been defrauded yet never even brought him into the scam) took right off the top over $2K in sheriff sale fees and over $4K in clerk of court fees, in addition to attorney fees to that snake Cleveland attorney for the fraud Preliminary Judicial Report he filed plus another $33K left from a flat-out fraud $50K Home Equity Loan that a dirty Huron bank allowed that one d-bag from Huron to take out a few weeks before her stepfather's death by "verifying" she was on the title when TOD Deeds (even that joke fraud one on file in the Erie County Recorder) would not have gone into effect until after her stepfather's death.

Corrupt Erie County is concerned about undercutting the taxpayers? Yeah, right.

hard2believe

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 9:44pm

Really, susie? Get over being cheated. You never visited your morher when she was put into a nursing home. Your step-father supported you and your son. Get over it, you deserved nothing. What he chose to do with HIS money was his business, not yours. Im tired of seeing your constant complaining. I think it was also you who tried to accuse an insurance person of fraud and it was you who was proven wrong...its time to stfu!!!

Julie R.

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 9:11pm

If there's one thing I learned about trouble-making attorneys & other dirt-bags that criminally defraud the elderly it's this:

When the morons get caught they're all so ignorant they can't even come up with a half-way intelligent lie.

I could write a book on the ignorant crap those attorneys came up with, including that snake Lorain County attorney that my mother's Huron attorneys worked in collusion with to fraudulently transfer her half to property. I could write a book on the ignorant crap that old bat manager at a Huron bank came up with, too. And then there was that Huron insurance agent ~ the one that took over after my mother's long-time insurance agent of 30 years retired ~ the little crook that actually tried to tell me that my deceased mother's 9 contracts (that I was supposed to make sure were paid out someday to 4 people) "had all been cancelled due to lack of payment" during the 11 months she was in that stinking nursing home owned by corrupt Erie County. I said, really? Annuities (the money from her side of the family) given away as gifts years & years prior when she was planning out her estate, life insurance policies w/irrovocable beneficiaires, paid-up endowments taken out in the 1950's and even stocks were all cancelled due to lack of payment?

And then there was the one fraud attorney-in-fact ---- the one in a response to complaints filed in the probate court (complaints that the joke probate court refused to address) who admitted to fraudulently transferring property claiming he was "deceived" by the attorneys who told him "my mother's half to property had to be fraudulently transferred and her 4th beneficiary had to be defrauded on a new fraud TOD Deed for Medicaid eligibility."

How's that for ignorance?

Steve P

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 6:38pm

Only a matter of time before she returned from the mother ship with another message she heard from her multiple voices, for her rationalization for being disinherited. Surprise, surprise, totally off topic as usual.

Julie R.

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 9:40pm

Why is it off topic? I'm just pointing out what hypocrites the jokes in the county are. As for multiple voices .... duh, the fraud is a matter of public record.

You might even check out that forged POA that was concealed in the Lorain County Recorder. It's still there.

Steve P

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 9:46pm

And the beat goes on, and on and on.....

Steve P

Tue, 05/27/2014 - 9:52pm

For a few thousand dollars you risk not selling and continue to pay to maintain it. After the sale it will generate property tax and income tax from any business that buys it, benefiting both the city and county.

Julie R.

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 12:05pm

For a county that's into fraud & crimes against the elderly like Erie County is ~ where auditors authorize fraudulent transfers of property and recorders knowingly file fraud documents causing serious defects in the titles ~ so the joke courts can pull off even more fraud by selling them at scam sheriff sales under fraud preliminary judicial reports that falsely state there are no defects in the titles to realtors to use as rental property, I do so think it's rather hypocritical for the county commissioners to squabble over a measly $6,000.00.

hard2believe

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 10:40pm

Julie r, youre ridiculous. Its not like it was YOUR money. You lived free your whole life and had someone else support your son. Be thankful for what you did get!!!

Julie R.

Thu, 05/29/2014 - 10:25am

Who are you trying to kid with your flat-out lies? Certainly isn't me.

BTW, were the half-baked jealous morons from Huron disgruntled over Mr. Pisano's trust? If so, I guess the corrupt Erie County courts will have to spend the next ten years pulling off their infamous idiot scams once again. They'll even have to sell his house in Huron at a scam sheriff sale!

Julie R.

Thu, 05/29/2014 - 3:11pm

Who around would ever be ignorant enough to take the property of an elderly couple ~ one in the end stages of Alzheimers and the other who already had two strokes and three heart attacks ~ and cause serious defects in the title by fraudulently transferring the 1st owner's half seven months before her death. Who also would be ignorant enough to pay a snake Lorain County attorney & his snake Lorain County law firm $1,307.00 to prepare a fraud QuitClaims Deed that falsely stated a forged POA hidden in Lorain County was on file in Erie County and a new fraud TOD Deed that defrauded the 1st owner's 4th beneficiary.

If the attorneys & other idiots didn't know that when property is sold through normal channels (*the reason behind the scam sheriff sale) banks require title searches, one might have to wonder why the Erie County auditor, recorder, prosecutor and probate court judge didn't know it before "allowing" the criminal transfer.